The Welding Thread

[IronFreak]

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Do not mig weld in shorts.

Yes.......I did that. I should have known better being I've welded for 10+ years. That morning when I left for the shop all I had planned on doing was wrenching and some light tig for a buddy.....I ended up digging into my chassis and one thing lead to another and I started mig welding like a fool in the trunk area.

I wake up in the middle of the night when I move my legs and can't walk in jeans without nearly tearing up! haha!

[nando]

sunburn?

[IronFreak]

sunburn?

Horrible haha! the wind blowing across my leg hair hurts!

[Northern]

I welded for a morning in a tshirt once. Never again.

[DER E30]

Ouch!

I never wear gloves when welding as if you normally wear crappy cotton gloves like I do, the smoking hot little bits fall right through the cotton and get stuck on the skin... then the gloves prevent them from falling back out... SO no gloves is better for me...

[marshallnoise]

I once had a ball of hot slag go right through my shoe and onto my big toe. That sucked ass.

[IronFreak]

I once had a ball of hot slag go right through my shoe and onto my big toe. That sucked ass.

When I was in the shop we did a lot of CJP welds. we had to carbon arc the backside to complete the weld. We were doing a job for a church with a cathedral ceiling so we had to CJP weld all the peaks. I had welded one side and had started back gouging the back side to finish. If you haven't seen the process look it up, it LOUD, and throws hella sparks/slag. I wore leathers head to toe, with this big thick-ass leather apron to protect my man bits.

I was sitting on a bucket, hood dropped going to town on this piece when a piece of the carbon rod broke off and landed in my lap on my apron. I didn't notice and kept on going. its glowing white hot, burns through the apron and hits my leg.

First reaction when something touches your junk region.....slam you thighs together. it seared through both pant legs into each thigh and got lodged.

Had to go to the emergency room......had to have the wounds scrapped 2x a week for 4-5 weeks after that.


screwed up my 3 year no accident record.....it was a bad time.

[marshallnoise]

When I was in the shop we did a lot of CJP welds. we had to carbon arc the backside to complete the weld. We were doing a job for a church with a cathedral ceiling so we had to CJP weld all the peaks. I had welded one side and had started back gouging the back side to finish. If you haven't seen the process look it up, it LOUD, and throws hella sparks/slag. I wore leathers head to toe, with this big thick-ass leather apron to protect my man bits.

I was sitting on a bucket, hood dropped going to town on this piece when a piece of the carbon rod broke off and landed in my lap on my apron. I didn't notice and kept on going. its glowing white hot, burns through the apron and hits my leg.

First reaction when something touches your junk region.....slam you thighs together. it seared through both pant legs into each thigh and got lodged.

Had to go to the emergency room......had to have the wounds scrapped 2x a week for 4-5 weeks after that.


screwed up my 3 year no accident record.....it was a bad time.

Ok. You win. Lol!

[DER E30]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ouch!!!!!!!!

[IronFreak]

Some pictures to capture how crazy it can be!

[doorman]

I've learned over the years to crouch instead of kneel when welding stuff on the ground or close to it.


You'll do a bit of dancing if you don't!

[IronFreak]

I've learned over the years to crouch instead of kneel when welding stuff on the ground or close to it.


You'll do a bit of dancing if you don't!

Yup I try to stay on my feet at all times.....and don't wear chucks....that canvas doesn't do shit against sparks haha!

[4x4_e30]

Haha "sunburn". One day I was welding a heavy duty end dump together, and somehow my undershirt was pulled down enough to expose my neck down to the collar bones. Was doing a 20ft stringer overhead in a really awkward position and by the time I was done all the exposed skin was literally RAW. As in juicy, bubbly, and oozing plasma. It was the worst burn I have ever experienced.
So I started wearing these:

Keeps metal shavings and grinding dust out of your neck and ears, sparks and spatter bounce off it, and best of all, prevents your neck from getting fried.

Also, you can hold a blow torch to it for 3 minutes and nothing happens. When you're not wearing it, of course.

[IronFreak]

Haha "sunburn". One day I was welding a heavy duty end dump together, and somehow my undershirt was pulled down enough to expose my neck down to the collar bones. Was doing a 20ft stringer overhead in a really awkward position and by the time I was done all the exposed skin was literally RAW. As in juicy, bubbly, and oozing plasma. It was the worst burn I have ever experienced.
So I started wearing these:

Keeps metal shavings and grinding dust out of your neck and ears, sparks and spatter bounce off it, and best of all, prevents your neck from getting fried.

Also, you can hold a blow torch to it for 3 minutes and nothing happens. When you're not wearing it, of course.

HAHA! Man I've had similar. When I first started working here I had no idea how intense the arc from high amperage dual shield flux core was.....wore a cutoff sleeve shirt......burned the shit out of me shoulder, bicep and forearms. After that warming long sleeves in the Nebraska summer heat wasn't so bad!

[JGee]

anyone got experience with miller's multimatic? i've been thinking about replacing my hobart with one since i want a tig but don't want to sacrifice more room in my garage with more stuff

Little late to the party. Just finished 13 pages good stuff going on here!

Using a Miller mutimatic for a couple of years now. I use it mainly as a MIG welder and it does a great job very smooth. Don't have a lot of time with the TIG or stick funtions but, have tried them out and again very smooth. As you probably know the TIG is DC only so no AL. If you don't need the portability and already have a nice MIG, might be hard for me to justify the cost. The huge plus of the millermatic is the portability (50 lbs. or so) and being able to stick weld when MIG just won't get it done is huge but rarely needed.


Came across this a while back:

http://www.brewracingframes.com/safety-alert-brake-cleaner--phosgene-gas.html

Please take the time and read this guys story or just do not use brake cleaner or any other automotive spray. It can produce phosgene gas and just four parts per million is no good.




JH